Commuters hit with lengthy delays Tuesday evening

Commuters were hit with lengthy, unexpected delays Tuesday evening due to construction on the McKenzie Interchange.

Main arteries out of downtown Victoria and Saanich were quickly clogged as motorists tried to travel back to the West Shore and beyond.

Last night it. Took me 2 hours to go from downtown to home via bus. 18km in 2 hours. This morning, it took me nearly 2 hours to get into town because of the MVI and paving. WE NEED A REAL Solution 😡#yyjtraffic#yyj#bcpoli

East Sooke resident Stefan Nowak left Sidney on BC Transit’s 72 bus route at 2:45 p.m. from Fifth Street at Beacon Avenue. He hopped on the first 61 bus leaving downtown at Douglas Street and Summit Avenue at around 3:50 p.m. but it took almost a half an hour to reach Uptown. The bus didn’t arrive at Tillicum Road until roughly 5 p.m. (70 minutes after departing Douglas Street) and it took another 20 minutes just to get to McKenzie Avenue.

Nowak noted the bus arrived at 17 Mile House at 6 p.m. – roughly 75 minutes late. He missed his connecting bus into East Sooke and had to wait another 25 minutes to get on the last bus.

Officially took me an extra HOUR AND A HALF to get back to my car at JDF from downtown this evening compared to leaving same time yesterday. #yyjtraffic is an unpredictable, illogical horror show.

On Tuesday afternoon the province announced through a traffic advisories on project’s website that construction between 800 metres south and 900 metres north of McKenzie Avenue in Saanich would run from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. daily, starting Feb. 6 to 10, with lane closures in effect. The province warned motorists to expect minor interruptions for ongoing construction from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

That post was last updated shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday.

“Lane closures will be in effect, speed zone 60km/h. Expect minor interruptions for ongoing construction from 5:30am to 8pm.” Minor interruptions?! Understatement of the year! @TranBC@DriveBC_VI#yyjtraffic

Brynn Irving noted “it took me over two hours to get home tonight, however it felt like an eternity. People were having panic attacks, freaking out at the bus driver and even got off the bus to walk to Tillicum to try to shorten their commute. Whoever made the decision to pave on a weekday is absolutely insane.”

I feel the pain as well, but without the upgrades on our roads & transit systems, it will only get worse. Please be patient .. bike, walk, bus, carpool & let’s try to get through this contraction phase together. Blaming doesn’t help #yyjtraffic#yyj